One of the greatest achievements by Akira Kurosawa, Ikiru shows the director at his most compassionate—affirming life through an explora­tion of death. Takashi Shimura beautifully portrays Kanji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat with stomach cancer who is impelled to find meaning in his final days. Presented in a radically conceived two­part structure and shot with a perceptive, humanistic clarity of vision, Ikiru is a multifaceted look at what it means to be alive.

“One of the few movies that might actually be able to inspire someone to lead their life a little differently… Over the years I have seen IKIRU every five years or so, and each time it has moved me, and made me think. And the older I get, the more Watanabe seems like every one of us.” – Roger Ebert

“IKIRU should revive Kurosawa’s reputation as a director who was not merely a movie master but also a virtuoso humanist.”
– Michael Sragow, The New Yorker